Stand Bold » John 8:32

It has been said that the Bible is our roadmap for life.  Its twists and turns are filled with wisdom to help us find our way.  Holding strong to that belief, I invite you to take a trip down Truth 66 with me.  It is the most classic route of all time.  The trip starts in Genesis, goes through Jericho, Jerusalem, Nazareth, and finally ends in Revelation at the Second Coming Café.  Each week we will make a stop, selecting a truth from each location, and through this, examine the Word of God, while cultivating His truths in our lives.  Join us for a trip down Truth 66, it just might be the best adventure you’ve ever had!

As the first post in Constitute Truth, the following paragraph will explain our vision.   It also dares to ask whether you will stand for truth, and in turn reformation, or continue in ignorance and allow revision.

I believe that we have reached a mark in our nation’s history that presents us with a crucial decision concerning the very principles that it was founded upon and the freedoms that we exercise every single day as its citizens.  There has never been a time in our past when we have been free from understanding and protecting those freedoms, this day is no different than the day that we returned to war with Britain in 1812, or mourned the loss of our sons and fathers on the wicked beaches of Iwo Jima, or when we finally resolved ourselves to no longer withhold our precious freedoms from any man simply due to the color of his skin.  Our responsibility to uphold the laws which were set forth in our founding documents has remained absolutely vital throughout our glorious past.  That responsibility continues every second of our existence, but I fear that as we grow into an ever more complacent society, we will forget the role of importance that the people serve in this mission.  We must never cease to boldly seek the truth behind our government’s actions, or to make known our opinions.  The government must never infringe upon the sacred freedoms provided to us by our constitution.  We mustn’t give our politicians the benefit of the doubt, but rather continually question the fidelity of those who represent us.

Time and again history has shown us that as people move into states of ignorance or complacency they slowly lose both the desire and the ability to defend their previous liberties.  The longer a nation walks in ignorance the more power can be usurped by those who seek to create their own truth.  As Americans, we are blessed with the greatest form of government in existence on our planet today, a glorious and just republic.  Despite its mighty foundation and its proven success, there remains a delicate balance between the capability of the people and the responsibility of the government.  As Thomas Jefferson said, “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.”  The only hope that we have of continuing our republic’s great legacy is to unite in truth, as a culture, and as a nation.  No matter what you desire as an individual, whether you lean left or right, we must unite as a whole, learning and speaking the truth.  We see evidence of the fact that our founding fathers realized the value of truth by looking at much of what they wrote as people and as statesmen.  George Washington said, “Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.”

I believe that in our ignorance we have drifted away from our founding; to return we must advocate reform.  Those who wish to create their own truth, and lead us farther away from the foundation in which our freedoms are based, will advocate something far different, revision.  The difference between reform and revision can at times be subtle.  Agenda driven politicians will use them merely as synonyms, causing people to believe that they’re being lead back to the way things were, not forward to the way these politicians think things “should be”.  A valuable, but grave, tactic in the play book of those who would try to destroy our republic is the method of historical revisionism.  If we can be made to forget our past then we’ll have no desire to return to its glory or learn from its faults.  The history within our children’s textbooks is literally being rewritten, condensed to a briefer or more “politically correct” form.  Usurpers will stop at nothing to hide the facts of our heritage from our own knowledge, but as Ronald Reagan quipped, “Facts are stubborn things.”

With this in mind, I challenge you to make a choice.  Choose whether you’ll be devoted to seeking the truth of our history, of our foundation, and of our present times.  Or whether you’ll coast through life in ignorance providing politicians and community leaders the benefit of the doubt, and hoping someone else will come along and fix the problem.  Do you desire truth to guide us to reform, or ignorance to push us from our foundation?

Stand Bold ~ Mike Vance

It never seems to fail that when one thing goes awry, there are plenty of mishaps to follow.  First it is the microwave.  Such grinding and buzzing you have never heard come forth from the magical device that heats food.  Then, it is dishwasher.  Recall!  “Due to problems with fire from wiring, your dishwasher is being recalled”.  Next thing you know, the kitchen sink has turned into Old Faithful with soapy dish water bathing the fleeing dog, as you desperately try to unclog the drain.

Whether it is the car, the house, health, relationships, work, or money, one issue generally is followed by another.  In all of this, however, we must be careful to not let ourselves fall into the following downward spiral: first life, then the heart, and finally the soul.

A passage of scripture caught my attention recently, and it took me on an interesting journey through the Bible.  In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul is writing to the church in Corinth about forgiveness and he ends the passage on forgiveness with this, “I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”[i] The word “schemes” intrigued me.  Glancing down to the study notes in my Bible, the journey began…

Quite fittingly, we begin at the beginning in Genesis 3:1a, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.” We all know what happened in the Garden of Eden, the serpent deceived Eve with his cunning and guileful speech.  This gives us an initial understanding of the devil’s schemes.  Revelation 12:9a paints the picture more clearly, “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world…”  Did you catch that last part?  Satan’s goal in life is to deceive the whole world and he has been at it since the beginning.

Next we travel to John 8:44b, “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  The picture of the devil’s schemes is growing.  Not only is he crafty, he speaks only lies.

Our next stop is at 1 Peter 5:8, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  Can you see it, can you picture the devil lying wait and planning mischievously, to trip you up and pull you down?

Flipping back over the 2 Corinthians 4:4, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”  Notice the difference between the little g in god at the beginning of the verse and the big G in God at the end.  We are talking about two very different people.  Satan is the ruler of this world; he is the god of the earth, and of this age.  He seeks to blind everyone from the truth of the gospel.

Finger walking over to the gospels, we land in Luke 22 at verse 31 where Jesus is talking to one of his disciples, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.”  Sifting wheat may seem rather irrelevant to our discussion.  What do Simon and wheat have in common?  Flip back to the Old Testament to Ruth 1:22, “So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.”  The verse itself does not appear to shed much light upon the subject.  However, we must first understand the harvesting process.  Once the grain had been harvested, the grain (wheat) needed to be separated from the chaff (worthless weeds and grass) that grew up among it.  This was done by tossing the grain into the air with a winnowing fork.  As the grain flew in the air, the chaff would blow away.  Essentially the workers were creating a giant sifter.  Satan sought to toss Simon around; he wanted to send Simon through the sifter of life.  “Satan wanted to test the disciples, hoping to bring them to spiritual ruin.”[ii] Does Satan’s purpose for our lives get any clearer than that?  While we may not be one of the original twelve disciples, as Christians we are disciples of Christ and Satan seeks our ruin.

To recap the devil’s schemes:

1. He is crafty and deceitful
2. His native tongue is lies
3. He prowls waiting to devour
4. He blinds unbelievers from the truth
5. He hopes to bring spiritual ruin to Christ’s disciples

Satan will do everything in his power to keep us from the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  He has a whole bag of tricks and is really good at using them against you.  It is like the famous line from Disney’s Snow White, “all it takes is one bite”.  Slowly, he will creep in and bring on one problem after another.  You become so focused and distraught over the things that are surrounding you that you begin to worry, to get frustrated, to become angry and upset.  Your heart becomes selfish and before you know it your soul has begun to shrivel and die.  It is all part of his scheme.  Do not let Satan outwit you.

1 John 3:5-6, 8a says, “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.” My study notes explain this further: “[Satan] is the instigator of human sin, and those who continue to sin belong to him and are his children.”[iii] Do not let Satan own you through your sin.  Instead embrace 1 John 4:4-6 “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”

When life starts raining problems and Satan comes at you ready to devour, grab your sword!  Turn to 1 John 4, read the whole chapter.  Let God take you on a journey through timeless truth.  You never know what treasures you might discover.

~ Krista G.

[ii] New International Version. Kenneth Barker gen. ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000. pg. 1615.

[iii] New International Version. Kenneth Barker gen. ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000.  pg. 1950.